Lip Service: The Rolling Stones Podcast

Today’s guest is Chris Kimsey, the studio engineer and producer behind many of The Rolling Stones’ most celebrated recordings. Kimsey began his career as a teenage tape operator at London’s Olympic Studios in the late 1960s, learning the craft of recording from the ground up inside one of the most important studios of the era. By the 1970s he had become one of the most in-demand engineers on the L...

Today’s guest is Karl Denson, saxophonist with The Rolling Stones since 2014, when he stepped into the role made legendary by the late, great Bobby Keys. Rooted in jazz improvisation and deep funk traditions, Karl earned a reputation as an esteemed double threat: a highly gifted musician equally confident leading from the front as elevating from within a group as an indispensable sideman. From the...

Today’s guest is Stephen Kijak, filmmaker and director of Stones In Exile, the beloved fan-favourite documentary that explores The Rolling Stones’ self-imposed exile in the south of France and the making of their classic 1972 album, ‘Exile On Main St.’ A director whose work sits at the intersection of music, journalism and cinema, Stephen first emerged with his 1996 feature Never Met Picasso befor...

Today’s guest is Robert Greenfield, author of STP: A Journey Through America With The Rolling Stones, one of the most vivid accounts of The Rolling Stones at their magnificent, hedonistic peak, and the first book ever written from inside a major rock tour. As the UK’s Associate Editor for Rolling Stone in the early 1970s, the New Yorker earned rare access to the band at a pivotal moment in their h...

Today’s guest is Ray Winkler: architect, designer, and CEO at STUFISH Entertainment Architects, who has helped conceive and shape The Rolling Stones’ live stages for over 30 years. Mentored by the late Mark Fisher, Ray began working with him in the mid-1990s at the company that would later evolve into STUFISH, before joining the Stones’ touring family for the first time on the ‘Bridges To Babylon’...

Today’s guest is Paul Sexton: journalist, author, and one of the most trusted chroniclers of The Rolling Stones’ world. For more than three decades, Paul has enjoyed rare access to the band, interviewing every member, spending time on the road, and being invited into the heart of their story for articles, features, liner notes, and documentaries that each demonstrate not only the respect in which...

Today’s guest is Gered Mankowitz: the brilliant photographer whose images of The Rolling Stones helped define the visual identity of the band’s earliest and most explosive years. Impressed by Gered’s work, Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham brought him into the band’s inner circle when he was just 18, making him their official photographer from 1965 to 1967. In that short but seismic period, he cre...

Today’s guest is Tony King: legendary music industry executive, promoter, creative consultant, fixer, éminence grise, and close friend of The Rolling Stones. From his beginnings as a teenage office boy at Decca Records in London, Tony rose through the ranks to become not only a distinguished expert in promotions, but one of the most trusted insiders in music. His career took him from the birth of...

Today’s guest is Prince Stanislas Klossowski de Rola - better known to friends and fans as Prince Stash: musician, actor, poet, aristocrat, and close friend of The Rolling Stones. The son of celebrated artist Balthus, Stash came of age in the cultural epicentre of 1960s London and Paris, living at the crossroads of la dolce vita and the burgeoning rock revolution. After sharing a stage with the St...

Today’s guest is Chuck Leavell: legendary keyboardist, longtime musical director for The Rolling Stones, and one of the most respected musicians in rock history. Chuck’s story is a remarkable journey through some of the most iconic moments in American music. Inspired by the British Invasion as a teenager, he immersed himself in Alabama’s thriving music scene, even hanging outside Muscle Shoals Stu...

Today’s guest is Bernard Fowler: powerhouse vocalist, long-time Rolling Stones backing singer, and a hugely respected artist in his own right. Born and raised in Queensbridge, New York, Bernard’s musical journey began amid the vibrant, genre-blending landscape of 1970s NYC. From gospel choirs and Latin rhythms to disco and early hip-hop, his influences shaped a singular voice that would eventually...

Pleased to meet you...! Welcome to Lip Service!  Our very first guest is Andrew Loog Oldham: the original manager and producer of The Rolling Stones, and the teenage Svengali who shaped their early sound, style, and mythology.  In 1963, at just 19, Andrew signed the Stones, secured their record deal, positioned them as the dangerous antidote to The Beatles, and produced their first run of classic...

Coming Soon: Lip Service is a new podcast exploring the music, life, and legacy of The Rolling Stones through amazing conversations with the people who know them best, hosted by music journalist Simon Harper.